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Hiking Lion Loop in Ophir Utah - Trail Report 9/8/2020

Fall leaf on the ground with orange color  

The Oquirrh Mountains are always so mysterious. Riddles with trails, more than half of the mountain range is considered private property. The south end of the mountains contains something even rarer for the hills.

Public Land.

On the south end, lies pockets of Bureau of Land Management Public Land. This land can be accessed from the top of Butterfield canyon, various small canyons (which I am in the process of mapping/exploring) and in the back country of Ophir.

For this excursion, I found a listing for the trail here on page specifying trails in the county:
http://www.tooelecountytrails.com/images/print%20pdfs/lionhillloopprintablemap.pdf

So, onto the trail report.Misty Mountains with snow in the background. It looks cold because it was.

It snowed. Yep. 2020, when the world is upside down and the previous Monday was hot enough my home needed to be cooled, and today, In September, it snowed.

It was a beautiful respite though. The temps in Salt Lake were awful and the long period without a proper rainstorm was really grinding on me.

The parking at the trail head was amazing. a lot of room, plenty of space for cars and room to park. I did not see a restroom though, or freshwater at the trailhead. It is also important to note though, the document above mentioned that the trail could be traveled by Off Highway Vehicle (OHV). I didn't see any, but the day was windy and cold, so it might have been a factor.

The trail is essentially a really rough rough dirt road, but there are advantages to this. There is plenty of play to choose the best path by foot, and in steep sections, you can make your own mini switchbacks. As someone with a knee injury, that is something I value.

From the parking lot, it is easy to find and start on the trailhead, and there is signage.

from the moment you start, you are in the trees, and if you catch the trail in the morning or evening in the summer it should be easy to find shade for most or all of the way. It is hard to judge the temps in the summer since the freak weather system dropped the temps. Knowing the region means stick to the evenings of morning. This part of Utah is hot. There is little water, and any running water would be seasonal at best. There were a few cattle troughs that in a tight spot, you could filter from.

 

Mining pipes line the trail on the way up.

As a callout to preparation, this day of hiking was a good example of bringing the 10 essentials. While unclean, there is water to filter from, and I was glad that I brought extra clothing because I underestimated the severity of the temp drop. From the 97 on Monday to easily below 35 and snowing was just not something my brain could comprehend. (For more information on what the 10 essentials are, see our post here: The 10 Essentials)

Snow on the ground is shown among the grass.

Preparation allowed us to keep hiking. here my mother is hiking the trail past a lot of snow.

The trail winds a way and then gives up the trees for a beautiful valley floor where the trail forks into 2 directions. To the left it winds up a canyon to be explored later and to the right, the saddle which was ultimately our destination.

The wind was heavy off and on, but the storm seemed to break, and we were open to the sun. The air was cold, but the sun was warm.

a lovely valley between mountains with snow at the top of them

As we continued our climb, we found a lovely sheltered area out of the wind and sat for lunch. The wind picked up, and really spoke to the place we found. We were out of the wind to munch down our premade sandwiches from Walmart.

After lunch, the wind was howling, and the temps took another plunge. We did have to travel through a bunch of aspens which, paired with the freak windstorm, was a little sketchy. a lot of visible tree damage could be seen.

an overlook looking into Rush valley. unseen is a strong wind with the cold air.

From there, it was a climb up to the overlook saddle. from the light fading fast, we made the decision to turn around rather than completing the loop. And it was a good choice since the cool weather persisted and the remaining part of the trail was in shadow.

The way down was nice, and following the way down was lovely as the weather calmed. The cool air persisted, and at that elevation, during the night, the temps dropped below freezing.

Without proper gear, and a planning, this would have been a miserable time, but luckily, we planned to have fun, and did. Even if it was a bit cold and a bit snowy.

A beautiful hike down, the mountains are glowing with something referred to as alpine glow. Fall leaves a bright vibrant orange color are on the right side of the wide trail

p.s. In a fun note, I am writing this blog on my front porch, it is 9/15/2020, just a few days after this trip. It is warm, i am in short sleeves and it is 9:30 Mountain time. the weather is warm and lovely and today was hot.

This Adventure was vlogged as well. Please feel free to check out our YouTube Channel, Gear Up Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db-qUpQ5xng

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